Foolish Brother's Mess
by saradasama
Summary: When Sasuke's rash actions lead to his death in a mission, Itachi is the one, as always, who is left to clean up his foolish-little-brother's mess. It must be frustrating to always be the one making sacrifices, but never as serious as committing himself to a marriage with his deceased brother's pregnant lover. Non-massacre. [ItaSaku]
1. Death at the Doors

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only, without any intention of infringing upon any copyright.

**A/N**: Yet another mutli-chaptered ItaSaku story! Here I was sipping a cup of coffee and staring at the blank wall and spacing out, when this plot hit me out of nowhere and I just had to get it out of my system.

Oh, and to all the Sasuke lovers reading this, if you're reading this (because surely any Sasuke die-hard fans have just continued to scroll down the moment they've read 'Sasuke' and 'death' in the same sentence and frankly, I can't blame them because I know I'd have done the same if I were in their place), I'm sorry for killing the poor thing right off in the summary! So no, I'm not trying to accomplish any Sasuke bashing here, it's all just for the sake of the plot. But then again, does it matter? This is only but a fanfiction, hence, Kishimoto's Sasuke continues to be very alive and kicking! So like, hehe, whatever! :v

* * *

**Foolish Brother's Mess**

**Chapter 1  
**Death on the Doors

* * *

The Godaime Hokage was not at all pleased with the situation at hand, if not worried; but could do little than snatch a bottle of sake from the hidden flap under her desk and take long sips out of it while cursing the shit out of her dead friend Jiraiya who was, according to the Godaime, the root of all her troubles and headaches. And why not? If Jiraiya had simply agreed to fill the position as the Godaime Hokage after the Sandaime's demise, Tsunade would be out there somewhere doing whatever the hell she wanted!

'_I hope you're having a good laugh watching me now,'_ she grumbled to herself, obviously addressing Jiraiya in her thoughts, _'and rolling all over in your grave.'_

But no, here she was stuck in an office all day long every day, filling out papers after papers. And the latest development could hardly be of any comfort for the blond woman. Taking a particularly long sip out of the bottle, Tsunade glanced out of the window and watched the dim sky as hints of dawn approached on the horizon.

'_It's time,'_ she reminded herself.

Sighing, she got up from the comfort of her cushioned chair, pushing it backwards unceremoniously as she did so. Running a hand through her honey-comb tresses, she walked over to the window and climbed over the high still with ease. The cool morning breeze hit her as she jumped off the still without a pause, landing gracefully a hundred feet below. Not even bothering to look around, she waved her hand slightly, a gesture that had the operatives assigned for her own protection know that nothing was amiss and to stand down. With laid back strides, she began to walk towards the hospital.

It has been two days since the sole survivor of ANBU team that she had sent on a classified S-class covert mission in Iwa, had burst out of the forest on the outskirts of the village, and collapsed from chakra exhaustion as soon as he had set foot within the sanctuary of the village gates. He had immediately been ushered to the hospital where the Godaime herself had checked upon his health and healed his rather nasty wounds which were quite expected given the nature of the mission. After all, the mission hadn't been ranked as S-class for nothing!

But his injuries were the least of her worries.

What worried her more was that the squad had obviously been given a chase by Iwa if the man's wounds were any indication; and due to her extensive journey around the world, Tsunade was quite familiar with Iwa's methods and types of attack to grimly realize as much. And that very well meant that what Tsunade had wanted to be an entirely covert mission, had been nothing of the sort.

'_Iwa will now be down our throat about this, no doubt,'_ she muttered to herself.

And what worried her sick was that she had sent five of them; all five of them hand-picked by her to match best with the covert approach required to carry out the mission. She had thought long and hard to conjure up the names of the most suitable candidates for the mission and had ensured that the team formation was balanced in every way. She had been so sure that there were no flaws. She had tried to ensure that absolutely nothing compromised that one important mission.

But then how was it that only one out of the five had made it back?

How was it that four of her elites hadn't made it back?

The reality was cruel and unfair, and she had a pretty good idea of what had happened; that the rest of her four elites were out there somewhere, lying dead on the ground, if not worse. But Tsunade wasn't willing to listen to the wise voice in her head. Not yet. Not without proof. Sheer idiocy seemed to get the better of her judgment which rendered her wisdom from decades of experience go unheeded.

'_No, there might still be some other explanation for this,'_ she kept insisting to herself with a shake of her head. And she realized that what she was asking for was nothing short of a miracle.

Maybe the one back had simply been too wounded to carry on with the mission, and the Captain had told him to return to get himself treated while the rest of them carried out with the mission. That was a possibility, and not something unheard of.

Often squads who goes out, returns half through with their missions due to severe injuries which render them unable to carry out with the mission. And if the party were big enough to accommodate the mission by improvising, they chose to send back their wounded comrades while they carried on. And knowing the captain of this particular ANBU squad, Tsunade knew that the man would rather die than return with his job undone.

'_The brat is too darn arrogant for his own good,'_ she thought with a frown.

The one who did make it back, Ryuu Mikai, was estimated to regain his consciousness sometime around the early hours of this very morning, and the restlessness in her heart had her unwilling to wait further. Tsunade wanted some answers, confirmation, as soon as he could move his tongue; her weakened heart could only take so much of waiting. Locating the window of the ward that the ANBU had been put in was quite easy; she jumped up to its still and unlocking the latch, climbed into the room swiftly.

But she was still too early. Ryuu was still passed out and tucked into the stark white hospital sheets and that left Tsunade no choice but to linger by the window, patiently waiting for the patient's chakra to be replenished and for him to awaken and confirm her theory; the theory that she so wanted to be the truth.

Or else how was she ever to face Naruto again?

'_Look him in the eye and say...'_ her thoughts trailed off.

There was a ruffle of sheets and she caught a faint movement from the corner of her eyes. Her head snapped around immediately and honey-comb eyes met the bewildered bloodshot gaze of Ryuu as he frantically looked about him before realization dawned upon him.

"Hokage-sama-" Ryuu saluted at once, struggling to sit up as he noted her presence.

Tsunade had had enough of waiting the last two days, and instead was more anxious to cut to the chase. Motioning him to be rested and otherwise completely disregarding the wounded shinobi's salute, she asked grimly, "What happened? Your mission?"

"Fo-Forgive me-"

From a lifelong experience of dealing with the way of the world, Tsunade could take a pretty good guess of where he was headed; the mission that held so importance to her had been nothing but an utter failure. So she cut across the fumbling nin, and asked curtly, already dreading in her heart the answer that she was certain of, "And your team?" Then added sharply, "Your Captain?"

Ryuu seemed to freeze and after a long pause, he managed to croak out, his eyes downcast, "...Dead."

::: ::: :::

Haruno Sakura finally stopped on her tracks and came to land softly on a branch. Stretching out her stiff arms, she watched the sun set against the horizon, painting the sky with a dull pinkish orange glow. From high above the tree, she could make out the village gates a few yards away and couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. She was almost home, and couldn't wait until she did.

After all, she still had a long night ahead to look forward to, because finally her dream was coming true; she had a date with Sasuke!

Just the thought of it made her heart pick up its pace and her eyes shine bright.

It wasn't like it was her first date with the boy; in fact they had been going out for about three months already, in secret of course. Because both of them had merely agreed to give it a try and see if it could work out or not, and Sasuke was hardly the one to complain about keeping it out of the earshot of the public and not to mention his uptight clan. Although Sakura highly doubted that people were actually as clueless as they appeared to be, except Naruto maybe, but was just glad that this way no one asked any unwanted questions and saved her a great deal of hassle from the group that made themselves known as "The-All-Girls-Uchiha-Sasuke-Fan-Club".

What indeed made tonight special to Sakura was that, three months or not, she was always excited for these date nights which were rare as it is due to both of their highly busy and not to mention mismatched schedules. And day by day, the younger Uchiha seemed to be summoned to fulfill the lengthiest of missions which required of him to spent most of the week away on one such mission or another. But in between, whenever they could sneak in a date, both of them would try to. And that was completely endearing to Sakura and indeed very, very special.

'_If he is already back from his mission, that is,'_ Inner Sakura chimed in much to Sakura's annoyance.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura retorted back, _'He was due to have returned from his mission days ago.'_

'_If all went well,'_ Inner said with a sneer.

The pinkette frowned and snapped inwardly, _'Shut up, would you?'_

'_Maa maa, I'm just saying it as it is, no need to be so mean,'_ Inner shrugged.

'_What do you mean 'as it is', huh?_' She asked crabbily, suddenly feeling like taking a good grip of Inner's hair and pulling at it.

'_Well, it's a cruel world we live in, Sakura,'_ Inner seemed to be surprisingly sober as it spoke, _'There's no guarantee of what might happen...'_

Sakura knew that despite its rude way of saying things, Inner meant well. And that what it had said was a reminder of the uncanny truth; that the world they lived in was a treacherous place and could rob them off everything within mere moments. And every time that they stepped out of their village which served as a sanctuary, there could be no guarantee that they would make it back once more; live to see another day. Just because she or Sasuke or Naruto had made it back so many times, didn't mean that they would make it back the next time. There were just no guarantees, none at all.

'_Just...shut up,'_ she told off Inner abruptly, her heart having grown heavy all of a sudden.

There was a pause in her mind and when she thought that Inner had left her to herself for good, the voice spoke again_, 'I'm just saying, Sakura. You're a smart girl.'_

After that Inner seemed to vanish just as suddenly as it had appeared, and Sakura was left to herself. As she jumped from one branch to another, each step carrying her closer to her home, Sakura couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. Inner's words itself had dampened her mood and she no longer felt as enthusiastic as she had before. But other than that, something still felt off; call it a woman's institution.

Sakura didn't have to linger on it for much longer, as within the next few minutes she passed the guard post stationed outside the village gates and waved back at the sentries whom she knew. Sakura knew that by protocol she should straight report to the Hokage, but she decided that it could wait. Her mission had been merely B-ranked escort mission and had gone surprisingly uneventful, not that she was complaining. With nothing important worth reporting right away, Sakura decided that her need for a good, hot bath prevailed above all. Besides, this way she could straight go meet up with the younger Uchiha heir after reporting to her mentor.

With that thought, Sakura made a beeline for the apartment area, and was soon unlocking her apartment door. Pushing the door ajar, she reached out to turn on the light and then closed the door behind her as the rather spacious apartment lit up with a warm welcoming glow.

Tucking her keys away safely in a drawer, she made her way to her bedroom, only pausing to open the windows to each room in order to improve the ventilation. Dropping her backpack on to the bed, she began to take off her rather filthy clothes off. Grabbing a clean towel out of her wardrobe, she entered the bathroom.

It took some time to work out the kinks out of her muscles, but she was out of the washroom by the next hour, gently running the towel through her pastel tresses. Deciding not to bother with the hair dryer since she could achieve the same effect with careful manipulation of chakra, she channeled her chakra to her hand and began to run her fingers through her hair and leaving them warm and dry on their wake.

Sighing contently, she glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table and gasped out loud. The sentries must have reported her arrival to the Hokage tower by now, and her failure to report by now must have made her mentor worried. Not wanting to work up her mentor with her irresponsibility, she quickly finished with her hair by brushing it into a neat ponytail. Checking out her reflection and pleased with the style of her hair, she walked over to her closet and pulled open the doors and stood there for a moment to rack her eyes over for everything in search of something suitable to wear for the night.

'_Hmm,'_ she wondered, _'What to wear, what to wear...'_

Since she was meeting with Sasuke afterwards and if she had taken any hint from the soft promise that the guy had made to spend some time with her, it seemed likely that the Uchiha had plans for the night, and so she didn't feel like wearing her usual ninja clothing. Instead she chose a woolen full-sleeved blue sweater that would protect her against the cold night air and paired it off with a pair of black leggings. She even took the time to put on a bit of mascara and eye-liner, before pulling on her headband and grabbing her wallet which she slipped into her pocket.

Turning off the lights on her way out, Sakura slipped into her usual blue ninja sandals. Locking the door behind her and jumping up to the roof and leaping onto fifty more before she finally reached the Hokage Tower and landed before the entrance gate. Climbing up the stairs, she soon came to the reception expecting to see Shizune stationed there as per usual. But to her surprise, there was no sign of the dark haired kunoichi, instead some other Jounin was giving out the directions instead of the older medic-nin.

Waiting for a Jounin to finish her talk with the Jounin, Sakura approached the kunoichi, "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" The woman looked up from a scroll that she had been reviewing, and then smiled upon recognizing the pink-haired kunoichi, "Oh, Haruno-senpai!"

Sakura returned the smile having recognized the woman from around, "Amane-san.'

"How can I help you, senpai?" Amane asked beaming.

Sakura looked around and asked instead, "Where is Shizune-nee?"

"She had something urgent to deal with," the Jounin informed her with a wink, "And asked me to fill in for the evening."

"Oh," Sakura merely said, guessing that it was probably some emergency at the hospital and wondered if she should head there as well or not. Pausing a beat, she asked with a tilt of her chin towards the closed doors of the Hokage's office, "Is Shishou in?"

Amane shook her head right away, and then added rather nervously, "No. Hokage-sama hasn't been in the office all day..."

That made Sakura blink in surprise; it wasn't like her teacher to take the day off no matter how bad the hangover. Tsunade always insisted on working even in sick health, hating the prospect of dealing with the larger pile of paperwork that would lie in wait for her a day later of the two days combined. Thoughts of going to check upon her mentor's health at the Hokage mansion if indeed she was feeling unwell crossed her mind.

"What?" Sakura all but hissed.

It seemed that the woman was rather taken aback by her behavior, and Sakura amended her expression and apologized quickly before rephrasing her query, "What do you mean? Is she ill?"

"Well," The other kunoichi frowned as if trying to remember something, "I don't think so. I heard some Jounin gossip, saying that Hokage-sama had been down at the Uchiha Estate dealing with some business..." She didn't sound so sure but the mention of the Uchiha household had Sakura's brow raised instantly, but not noticing the pinkette's astonishment, Amane continued, "But that was at the afternoon, she is bound to be on her way back already."

"Oh."

Thoughts ran through her mind to relate between her mentor's absence at the office for the whole day and instead paying a visit at the Uchiha household. Has the Clan again done something that required the Hokage to go in person to remind them of their place? After all, that wouldn't be the first time that the Uchiha Clan has tried to cause dispute with the reigning Hokage. It was no secret that the Uchiha Clan would like nothing better than to get a hold of Konoha's reigns.

'_I hope everything is alright,'_ she thought as she bit her lips in apprehension.

Like always, Inner decided to poke its nose at the worst possible moment, _'I don't know, Sakura. It just doesn't feel right to me...'_

'_Oh, fuck off!'_ She cursed fiercely, _'I don't need you to tell me that!'_

Locking Inner somewhere at the back of her head before it could say something that would throw her into more agitation, Sakura found herself agreeing with her other persona. Something felt amiss; she remembered the feeling she had earlier in the afternoon and frowned. She decided to go take a look for herself. Besides, she could take a look to check if everything was alright or not and then just take Sasuke and go on to her date with him.

Thanking Amane for the trouble, she fell in step with the long flow of people queuing out of the Tower. Once outside, she began to walk in familiar the direction of the Uchiha Estate.

::: ::: :::

Itachi had had a rather long day, and felt utterly exhausted which was very rare of him. This tiredness he felt was proof enough that Shisui had indeed improved and their spar had given the Uchiha prodigy a hard time. But of course, in the end he had won.

'_Improved or not,'_ He reflected from his day's experience, _'Shisui has a long way to go before he can be considered a threat.'_

Pulling open the shoji door, he entered the main household without even bothering to call out to inform that he has returned home, as always. According to him it was a waste of energy and pointless because as soon as he crossed the hallway, everyone could see for themselves that he was indeed back. So Itachi never bothered with this particular decorum that he considered useless, much to his mother's disapproval.

As he paused to pull back the screen shut after him, his ears became attuned to the noises inside the house and the particular muffled raised voice floating from beyond the closed dining room grabbed his attention at once. Toning down his breathing as his chakra had already been sealed when he had entered, he listened carefully.

He knew he could just walk into the room and no one would say no to him since he was the heir and was expected to take over the Clan's responsibilities in a short few year's time, but Itachi really didn't want to be dragged into another of their stupid, lengthy meeting and listen to the elders exchange blows over one trivial issue or another. No, he couldn't care less about what the old geezers were up to. However, what really caught his attention was one unmistakable feminine voice which, as familiar as it was, didn't belong to the usual group of geezers who met up every other day in the name of 'clan meetings'.

'_No,'_ he thought softly_, 'The Godaime Hokage only rarely pays visits.'_

And just like that, Itachi knew something was terribly wrong if the Godaime herself had come down to pay a visit. He wondered if the Clan had actually pulled out a coup d'état out of their ass like they had been planning to all these time in secret. Of course, if they had, they had failed miserably if the Hokage's presence was of any indication.

It made Itachi scoff in pity, _'Fools!'_

Crossing the hallway in seconds with his long strides, he unceremoniously pulled open the shoji door to the dining room. Not batting an eyelash at the bewildered gaze that half of the habitants threw him, he nodded at the direction of the Hokage in a silent salutation. The woman nodded back, but the graveness in her face or the grief in her eyes didn't fade away. Itachi noticed that her lips were pulled into thin lines, just like the rest of theirs.

"Ita-Itachi."

Said male looked right at the source of the raspy voice, Fugaku, who looked like he had aged a decade or perhaps more since the morning when Itachi had last seen him. For someone who believed in hiding emotions and trained his sons into becoming less humane and more machine, Fugaku had signs of emotion written all over himself. From the tear stricken cheeks, to the gaunt red eyes, to the quiver of his lips, Fugaku looked broken. And Itachi, who had never seen such display of open emotion even from his mother who was obviously the more sentimental of the two since she was a woman, had a hard time believing that this was even his father; not some illusion.

Inwardly he willed to dispel the scene in front of him, if indeed it was an illusion. But when nothing happened, and his father remained as weak as he seemed, Itachi who had full faith in his abilities of dispelling illusions, was forced to accept that the scene before him was nothing short of the reality. And frankly, it sent his world reeling. The father who had remained firm and stern and unfeeling as far back as he could remember...what had happened to make him otherwise?

"What is the matter?" He spoke for the first time, his voice smooth and calm although he felt the very opposite in the inside, and directed his words towards the Godaime because he was in no mood for the nonsense that the Clan elders could brew up, or their partial explanation, for as they often did beat about the bush.

The Hokage looked up and met his gaze and it seemed to him like she had been hoping not to be addressed with this very question. He watched patiently as she took her time swallowing.

"Please take a seat, Itachi," she motioned to the seat nearest to him, her voice sounded every bit tired that she looked, "I'm here about your brother."

And kami, did it send his world reeling!

::: ::: :::

The night was cold like she had predicted while dressing and was grateful that she had worn the woolen sweater which shielded her against the worst of the cold wind. Still, she drew up her arms around herself in an act of keeping herself warmer as she continued her strides towards the manor.

The Uchiha Estate wasn't very long away from the Hokage Tower and Sakura reached the place within about ten minutes despite that she had chosen to walk instead of the norm of leaping through roofs. She guessed it was due to the lesser number of people venturing around this area which made it easier to take long strides. She had come here many times over the years of her friendship with Sasuke, but usually it had been with Naruto or Kakashi and in broad daylight. Even in broad daylight, this area was very less crowded compared to the rest of the village, and in night time, even more so. However, tonight it all seemed a little too quiet and the aura itself around the Estate seemed heavy with...

'_A sense of foreboding...?'_ Inner offered.

'_Hm,'_ Sakura had to agree, suddenly feeling very cautious about the entire situation.

'_Isn't it weird, the place is supposed to crawl with Uchihas now that it is the end of the day and everyone should be returning from their respective jobs? Then how come it's so quiet?'_ Inner questioned doubtfully.

Sakura's eyes narrowed an inch as she realized that Inner did have a point, but didn't say anything further. Thinking that it was impolite to just linger on the threshold like this, she walked up to the front gate. The tall iron gates were pushed ajar, granting access to anyone like always. Sakura stepped in, her muscles taut in expectation of some kind of auto-mechanized retaliation, but there were none. Slowly, she allowed her muscles to relax and took hesitant steps forward.

Cautiously she made her way over to where the main house stood where Sasuke and his family lived, seeing that the main house always housed the Clan head which Fugaku was. And she had just planted a foot on the first steps of the house, when the shoji door of the said house slammed open, making her jump back a few yards in reaction. The first thought that coursed through her mind was that the habitants had sensed her and simply thought her to be an intruder. She crouched on instinct; ready to retaliate should the need arise.

But no shurieken came tearing at her.

Instead, the sight of Uchiha Itachi exiting the house in a maddened pace, his eyes bleeding a demonic red against the darkness of the night, his pony tail whipping against the wind utterly astonished her. Discerning that she wasn't in any immediate danger, she relaxed her guard; although she could sense for herself that the elder Uchiha was pissed beyond imagination, as rare as it was and hard to believe, she knew that she hadn't been the one to twist his knickers so she was pretty safe from his wrath because the last time she checked, Itachi wasn't prone to channeling his anger towards innocent bystanders.

She didn't know what made her do so, because in all the long years of her friendship with Sasuke, Sakura had been rather wary of the elder brother and never attempted to engage on a one-on-one conversation with the prodigy. But seeing the mood that he was in, she could guess that some clan meeting had not gone the way he had wanted and frankly, that meant that there was likely to be an even bigger uproar inside the house and Sakura decided that it was better to poke one tiger than to face a house full of them.

So she gave a polite bow towards the direction of the elder Uchiha who was still quite some way away and as he continued to stomp nearer, she called out, "Ano, Itachi-san! Sorry to intrude, but is Sasuke-kun in-"

Sakura could have been less shocked if the man had just ignored him and walked past. What Sakura hadn't expected in a million years is for the elder Uchiha to walk right up to her, his eyes blazing with what she had mistaken as anger from afar but not quite, as he gazed right into her eyes with such intensity that it frightened her and sent chills down her spine. In the back of her mind, she registered that her heart seemed like it would tear right out of her chest.

"Sasuke?" His voice was as silky and smooth as she remembered, if not for the slight tenor underneath that made her very nervous and made her want to shift on her feet and fumble with the hem of her sweater. But his bloody eyes kept her rooted to her spot that she found it difficult and breathtaking even, to conjure up the obvious response to his question.

"Ye-Yes," she finally managed to whisper, petrified and unable to look away from his red, red gaze that seemed to have captivated hers once and for all.

There was a long pause, in which Sakura's emerald eyes never left his deadly ones, and just when it seemed like she would simply drown in those pools of blood and be condemned into the fines of Tsukyomi, he made a noise from the back of his throat. Sakura blinked, trying to figure out what was going on with the elder Uchiha.

"He is gone," he told her at last, his lips quivering ever too slightly that she wouldn't have even caught it if not for their proximity, before he turned away from her. He began to walk past her and into the night, his steps as languid as always as he left her to wrap her mind over the implications of his plain words.

"Go-Gone?" She finally repeated, not understanding what that meant; because it couldn't mean _that_!

"Gone," he echoed, his steps not faltering as he walked away from her.

"Whe-Where, do you know?" Because Kami, he _had_ to have gone somewhere, not just gone like _that_!

"Gone, forever."

::: ::: :::

To be continued


	2. The Memorial

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only, without any intention of infringing upon any copyright.

* * *

**Foolish Brother's Mess**

**Chapter 2  
**The Memorial

* * *

Mornings which Tsunade woke up without a hangover were rare; and with all the recent commotion regarding the Uchiha Clan's youngest heir's death, Shizune had all but expected the elder woman to drink herself to oblivion. But to Shizune's surprise and many others', the Godaime Hokage wasn't seen to drink excessively for the weeks to follow, at least not more than a few rounds.

The blonde blamed it upon the lack of time and all the control that was required to be exercised over the whole village, it seemed. Everything seemed to have simply disintegrated; the death of Uchiha Sasuke seemed to have become more of a public scandal than anything.

'_It is all that the village can talk about,'_ Shizune noted, just as displeased with the prospect as her mentor, _'even the civilians.'_

Whether it were the men pitying that he had meet his end at such a young age, the poor boy, or the women whispering how fitting an end it was for that arrogant boy, or how children liked to come up with the most gruesome way that he could have been killed; it was all that the village could talk about.

'_I don't blame Kakashi for wanting to be left alone,'_ Shizune thought, remembering how the Jounin had come to her asking to be taken off active duty to the village.

Being the Hokage's personal secretary, she was very well sanctioned to grant such requests as she saw fit. And what with Tsunade buried in heaps of paper works, Shizune took it up to herself to help with as much as she could.

However, she had been a bit taken aback to have the request coming from him. Because in every past occasions following one of his teammate's demise, the man had taken up missions after missions to keep himself distracted from the agony of losing his dear ones. But she had of course granted him the request at once, knowing full well that Tsunade wouldn't mind.

Shizune could picture him wandering down the rows and rows of concrete slabs and away from the whispers of the villagers, lost in his guilt and grief. Personally she didn't think that the silver haired man needed more reminder of his past of how he had been unable to protect his teammates, but knew better. If anything, Sasuke's death has given him a grim reminder of how again he had failed to protect his precious people once again.

'_I really wonder if Kakashi will be able to get over the emotional trauma of losing yet another teammate this time around,'_ she sighed, worried about the silver-haired jounin that she was rather grown fond of over the years despite his perverted or lazy antics. But Kakashi's withdrawal from the society was only the beginning of the headache, if not nothing.

The Uchiha Clan itself was another issue entirely. While the entire Clan was mourning the loss of a fellow family member, so young and promising, the Clan elders hadn't wasted any time to start pointing fingers at the Godaime's regime. With the Uchiha Clan breathing down her neck and not to mention all the endless paperwork regarding the whole mess, her mentor was actually starting to curse the Uchiha brat for dying like this and leaving her to deal with some deep shit!

And it was one reason why Tsunade hadn't been indulging in barrels of sake, she had admitted to Shizune; at the rate things were going, the Clan looked ready to get up and revolt anytime now and the Godaime honestly didn't want to be a sorry wasted mess when it came to putting up a fight.

'_But they won't dare,'_ She remembered what Tsunade had recently revealed to her about what went behind the doors of the Uchiha household, much to Shizune's chagrin;_ 'Not without Itachi's help, they won't.'_

And Itachi had all but disappeared. There were no traces of the elder heir, and although they had panicked in the beginning, they soon came in terms with the fact that the boy was more than capable of taking care of himself and knew what he was doing. He was best left alone, wherever the hell he was. He needed to cope up with this in his own way, in his own time, there could no pillowing the fall.

Mikoto had come up to the Hokage office, eyes red and puffy, outright demanding to be brought to Tsunade. When Shizune had let her in, the Uchiha Matriarch had literally collapsed at the elder woman's feet, begging her to send for a search party after her elder son. Having lost her younger son, little could she imagine losing the only other one as well!

Not ever having the fortune to be blessed with a child herself, much as she tried Shizune couldn't have understood the pain of losing one. So she had been reduced to stand by silently torn in between her duty and the desire to comfort the Matriarch as she watched her mentor adamantly trying to convince that Itachi was a big boy who could take care of himself.

"_**And so was Sasuke!" Mikoto had shrieked, "Look where that has gotten him!"**_

After that, there wasn't much Tsunade could have said. So Shizune stepped in herself and ushered the Uchiha Matriarch home to rest assured that she would make sure that the Hokage had someone sent in pursuit of her elder son. Mikoto had calmed down considerably hearing that, but what she didn't know was that Shizune had never intended to keep her promise. Tsunade had thanked her afterwards for her quick thinking.

'_It was an underhanded trick I'll admit,'_ she muttered under her breath, her lips twitching, _'But it is how it is. Itachi needs time. Time...'_

On the other hand, since the younger Uchiha's body was never recovered, there had also been a great deal of problem regarding it. The Clan was simply unwilling to agree to let the body be left around lying in the middle of nowhere. And she could understand their outright aggressiveness when it came to it very well; after all, the Hokage hardly wanted the secrets of Sharringan to be public knowledge across the five nations. But there were far more important things to take into account.

The sole survivor of the squad, Ryuu Mikai, had succumbed into a deep coma soon after awakening and relaying the fate of his team, and was yet to recover from it. Shizune herself was assigned to his case and had been trying as much as her medical knowledge would allow, to achieve an early recovery. Without him, they had no clue whatsoever of what had actually happened to the squad.

Sure, being Tsunade's assistant, she knew what exactly they had been up to and where they had been sent to and while she could very well deduce from the types of wounds inflicted upon Ryuu about which country's shinobi was responsible for the death of the squad, but the matter of how they were ambushed, where they were ambushed or how the situation got out of hand, she and the rest of the few who were privy to the information could only guess.

And whatever little they did know, they couldn't leak out such sensitive information. The mission that brought the downfall of Uchiha Sasuke was entirely confidential and it was crucial that the information regarding it didn't make it out in the open. And given the extent of the scandal that this death already was, there was no point in galling the public further by admitting to the kind of things that happen behind the scenes. So for at least the time being, the Hoakge was adamant about keeping their mouth shut, the secret safe containing the mission's details locked, and putting off the body recovery mission until a further date.

'_The question is however, for how long can it be put off...?'_

The Council had undoubtedly taken the initiative to take the opportunity to snoop in and take a long whiff around and demand what exactly was going on. They had demanded to be let in on what mission the boy had been sent to and every other detail regarding the entire business. And when she had refused them entry, Danzo had outright threatened her!

'_That mother-fucking bastard!' _Her eyes narrowed at just the thought of the despicable man.

Now, she would have been more than glad to send him flying out of the window with one of her punch, if not for the guards and the Godaime who had intervened at the right moment and saved herself a great deal of trouble. Danzo, having sensed the danger to his life, seemed to let go of the issue and instead demanded hotly to Tsunade that a team be sent to retrieve the body right away. And all Tsunade and her apprentice thought was that the man was being too interested in the welfare of the Uchiha Clan, which was suspicious without a doubt.

'_Perhaps the the Clan had pulled some strings in order to get some answers through Danzo,'_ she mused as she distinctly felt another bout of headache creeping up to her, _'Or maybe there is something more sinister going on...Just what exactly is Danzo's role in all this, what are his motives?'_

"Hey Shizune-nee!" A voice hollered from down the hall, making her head snap up from the latest paperwork that required her signature. There could be no mistaking the blonde hair, cerulean eyes or the orange jumpsuit; Naruto.

The blonde had been out on a mission, and although she had been the one to send out a note to him a week ago advising him to hurry back, Shizune couldn't help but been bidding that the Jinchuriki took as long as possible to return.

Shizune had thought she would be frozen to her seat, but found it rather easy to stand up in a silent greeting. What was difficult however, was to make an effort to return his smile. Oh, Naruto! What were they supposed to tell him? That sorry Naruto, but yous heart's brother has just fallen dead...?

But this was something that could not just be avoided; Naruto deserved to know. And no matter how much Tsunade had been dreading this confrontation, the elder lady should be the one to break the news to him. So Shizune responded the best she could to the pleasantries as she immediately led him towards her mentor's office.

Shizune raised a hand to knock, to give her mentor a heads up but before she could do so, Naruto had side stepped her and barged in like always. Tsunade's face snapped up, no doubt pissed at the disturbance, but froze as soon as her eyes fell on who it was.

"It's Naruto..." Shizune stammered unnecessarily, glancing at the said shinobi.

He had that grin of his plastered on his face that must be making Tsunade's throat go as dry as it was making hers, as he exclaimed, "I mean I know that you guys missed me and all-"

"Naruto..." Tsunade tried to interrupt him, obviously not wanting to delay it any longer than necessary. Shizune decided to fix her gaze to the ground as she stood back while Naruto took long steps towards the desk where the Hokage sat.

"...but you of all people should know that it's important to see a mission through to the end, baa-chan!"

"Naruto..."

"I couldn't even drop by this awesome ramen shop I came across at the Hot Spring Village..." The blonde rambled on without any heed to their leader's persistence.

"Naruto!"

"...What!"

Their raised voice literally made Shizune jump up, as she looked from one to the other; ready to step in if need be. Tsunade had jumped up to her feet too, clutching dangerously at the ends of her desk where the firsts of splinters already seemed to be breaking out. It had caught Naruto's attention too and he blinked as he took them in with a suspicious look on his face.

"Geez, baa-chan, what's going on? " He asked when Tsunade couldn't seem to bring herself to meet his gaze. He turned towards Shizune, much to her distress as he questioned her, "Shizune-nee?"

"Goddamn it, Naruto! Sasuke is dead!"

::: ::: :::

Because there were no body to bury and neither did the Hokage seem to be in any hurry to send out a search for the dead bodies, the burial ceremony which had only been postponed for the sake of Naruto who had been out on a mission and Itachi who was missing in action, was decided to be carried out at long last.

With more than a month gone by, the Clan finally decided there was no point in delaying it. There was still no sign of Itachi and all the Clan wanted was to get over this whole awful business and try to move on.

Sure Uchiha Sasuke had been a remarkably promising child even for the standards of the Uchiha Clan, but such was the way of life. Especially the life of a shinobi, where there was absolutely no guarantee that you'll live through the night to see the next dawn. And as much as everyone had to agree that it was just unfortunate for this to happen to the younger Uchiha heir, there was nothing that could be done. Death simply couldn't be undone.

And with that bitter thought and heavy hearts, everyone gathered on one bleak afternoon after more than a month since the news itself had arrived, to pay their last regards to the boy whom they would never see again. Comrades, relatives, teammates, juniors and more civilians than expected could be seen hording around the family graveyard just behind the grounds of the Clan compound.

People clad in solemn black moved aside to let the Lady Hokage walk up to the podium where she would be conducting the memorial service for Uchiha Sasuke, the services for the rest of his fallen comrades having been held long before. Even the normally strong willed woman seemed to have a slouch in her posture, as she took her place up on the podium facing the silent crowd of black.

Up on the front of the crowd was a melancholic Fugaku with his arms around an equally pained Mikoto. The Uchiha Elders were standing on either of their sides while the Konoha Council and the other Clan Heads lined up behind then.

Hatake Kakashi had been expecting himself and the rest of the Team 7 to be huddled together somewhere amongst the Rookie Nine, but he found himself standing next to someone he didn't even know.

'_It is better this way... I don't think...I can face Naruto or Sakura.'_

Worried about Naruto mostly, he kept looking until he found Sakura's short shock of bubblegum tresses. It calmed him considerably to know that Sakura could at least bring herself to attend because it showed that she had somewhat coped up with the situation. The time remedy had worked a bit for him and Sakura, if not for Itachi or Naruto.

"It is undoubtedly with heavy hearts that we have all gathered today in the memory of Uchiha Sasuke..."

The Hokage's voice boomed as she spoke, chakra surging through her throat no doubt. Her voice sounded too loud to his ears. Maybe because it was far too used to hearing victory speeches over the deafening sound of the celebrating cheers in the air, not the deafening silence of lingering death.

"As most of you know, the circumstances of ANBU captain Uchiha Sasuke's death more or less remains unknown to this day, to you and me both. Perhaps his determination to see a mission to its end than return with the job undone..."

Here, she trailed off, the words seeming to get caught. And it didn't take Kakashi to have lost more than half of his dear ones to know that Tsunade's mind had momentarily floated off to the distant memories of her brother's and lover's deaths. And for the next moment, her amber eyes found his and despite himself, through his mask he gave her as reassuring a smile as he could muster even if it didn't reach his eyes.

'_Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei...' _The empty feeling inside him that he had been trying to quench for the past month, heck for the past decade, returned with a passion as he realized he would have another grave to visit from now on.

'_Sasuke, forgive me. I've failed you.'_

::: ::: :::

Kakashi's smile of sorts gave her the lift of spirits that she badly needed, and this time Tsunade didn't fix her gaze to an insignificant spot straight ahead, no. She tried to hold as many gazes as she could, as she chose her next words,

"While we can only guess what had befallen Sasuke, there can be no doubt about his loyalty. As his Hokage, I have seen the ambition, the talent in Sasuke; I've seen it all," At this point she made a waving motion with her right hand, soon clenching the same fist and nodding at the direction towards where the Uchihas stood as she said the following, "Yes, Sasuke was an outstanding shinobi with beyond promising talents." She shifted her gaze to the Rookie Nine now, "But above all, he was a friend, a comrade," before finally resting it upon Mikoto and Fugaku, "a brother, and a son."

Her eyes softened as Mikoto broke into tears and collapsed in her husband's arms. She didn't lift her eyes off the unfortunate parents because it was them that needed these words most, "Uchiha Sasuke died in the service of Konohagakure, and we will forever be indebted to his sacrifice. May your soul find the peace you deserve, Sasuke."

With this Tsunade finished, taking a step back as she watched everyone bow their head for a moment of respectful silence as was customary by shinobi standards. She bowed her head too, offering the same prayer she had made for her brother decades ago.

'_Rest in peace, brat.' _

Soon the memorial service was over but as Hokage, Tsunade stayed back long enough to hand over the rest of its responsibility to Shizune. The crowd began to disperse, but not once could she find a streak of orange and yellow amongst them.

::: ::: :::

To be continued

**A/N:** Thank you people for being absolute sweethearts. I honestly never expected to get as many follows or favorites as I did with just one chapter! Feedback would most appreciated indeed! :D


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